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Buffalo Sabres Recall Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

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After allowing 33 goals in their last seven games, losing all of them, the Buffalo Sabres look like they will also be without their starting goaltender for a little while. After Eric Comrie was injured against the Ottawa Senators, the team recalled Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen from the minor leagues.

While there has been no update yet on Comrie’s status, the recall of Luukkonen suggests that he’ll be out for a little while. The Sabres don’t play again until Saturday, meaning a decision wouldn’t have been necessary yet if it was a day-to-day issue. The Sabres are on the road, but rather close to home in Toronto for a match with the Maple Leafs this weekend.

Luukkonen, who has been a top prospect in the Sabres system for several years now, had a chance to play a handful of games in each of the last two seasons. His .913 save percentage during those 13 games is encouraging, even if his minor league performance hasn’t been quite as strong.

If he can come anywhere close to that number for the Sabres this time around, they’ll be overjoyed. The team is getting absolutely caved in of late, and Comrie now has an .887 save percentage on the year. After starting the season extremely strong, the Sabres are now 7-10 overall and have allowed by far the most goals in the Atlantic Division.

While Craig Anderson has done fine in his backup role, it’s hard to expect the 41-year-old goaltender to really carry the load at this point in his career. If Comrie is out for a while, that means Luukkonen will be used and relied on to turn things around in Buffalo.

Jake Bean Placed On Injured Reserve

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The hits keep coming for the Columbus Blue Jackets. While they still haven’t given an exact timeline for defenseman Jake Bean, he has been moved to injured reserve and is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury.

Bean, 24, had just recently set a season-high with more than 26 minutes against the Philadelphia Flyers and was poised to take on a much bigger role for the Blue Jackets with Zach Werenski (and Nick Blankenburg and Adam Boqvist) sidelined. Instead, he hits the shelf along with nearly half of the Columbus roster and won’t get a chance to step into a top position on the team’s blue line.

In the second season of a three-year, $7MM deal, Bean is coming off a career year with 25 points in 67 games. This time around had six through 13, before leaving early in a rematch with the Flyers on Tuesday.

With head coach Brad Larsen saying it doesn’t look good for Bean earlier today, it seems like this will be more than just a short stint on the injured reserve list. The team is at least at home for the next five games, meaning they can probably operate with a 22-man roster for the time being.

It will be interesting to see if these injuries lead to another opportunity for top prospect David Jiricek, who has played two games with the Blue Jackets so far. The sixth-overall pick has five assists in seven minor league games.

Philadelphia Flyers Activate Patrick Brown

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The Philadelphia Flyers are getting some forward help back, activating Patrick Brown off long-term injured reserve. Brown had been loaned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on a conditioning stint but didn’t actually play a game with the team before re-joining the Flyers today.

Now 30, Brown has been an interesting player to follow over the years. Signed by the Carolina Hurricanes out of Boston College as an undrafted free agent in 2014, he had only really found success in his senior year at the program. It seemed at first as though that success may have been a mirage, as Brown struggled to contribute at the professional level. In seven games with Carolina he was held scoreless while adding just two goals and ten points in 60 games with the Charlotte Checkers.

Slowly, though, and with the help of several one-year deals with the Hurricanes, he carved out a niche for himself as a useful minor leaguer and regular call-up. There was still almost no consistency to his NHL playing time, but that changed, somewhat, in 2021 with the Vegas Golden Knights when he played in 12 of the team’s playoff games. Last season was his best opportunity at the highest level, suiting up 44 times with the Flyers – more than he had in his entire career prior.

He racked up 100 hits during those 44 games while winning nearly 59% of his 400+ faceoffs, showing he could be relied on as a fourth-line, penalty-killing option. Now, with the Flyers dealing with several injuries, he’ll likely get a chance to reclaim that role on a regular basis.

Elvis Merzlikins Out With Lower-Body Injury

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It’s Joonas Korpisalo and Daniil Tarasov for at least the next little while, as Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen updated Elvis Merzlikins’ timeline today. The netminder will be out for 1-2 weeks with a lower-body injury. Jake Bean, who was also being evaluated yesterday, still doesn’t have a firm recovery timeline but it is “not looking good,” according to Larsen, who spoke with reporters including Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch.

Merzlikins hadn’t been doing well this season anyway, posting a .864 save percentage in nine appearances behind one of the worst teams in the league. The 28-year-old goaltender allowed two goals on 17 shots before leaving on Tuesday, and has a whopping 4.74 goals-against average on the year.

Korpisalo, who has been the better of the two goaltenders so far, will take the lion’s share of the starts while Merzlikins is out. Now 28, Korpisalo’s current .910 save percentage would rank as his best since 2019-20, should he maintain it all season. Tarasov, called up yesterday under emergency conditions, has a .893 in five appearances for the Blue Jackets tonight.

Emil Bemstrom, who is also dealing with an injury, is a game-time decision for tonight’s match against the Montreal Canadiens.

Winnipeg Jets Recall Ville Heinola

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Earlier this month, the agent for Ville Heinola told The Hockey News that his client deserved “a shot to play a run of games to show he can do it” at the NHL level. The young defenseman has been bounced up and down between leagues for his whole career so far, failing to get much consistency from the Winnipeg Jets organization. Perhaps now the squeaky wheel will get some grease. Heinola has been recalled to the Jets roster after they moved Mason Appleton to injured reserve.

Of course, given that Appleton is a forward, this could just be more time in the press box for Heinola. The Jets have allowed the fewest goals in the league so far this season and already had seven defensemen on the roster. If he does get in, there’s certainly no guarantee he stays there, though his play in the minor leagues once again suggests he’s ready for a bigger role in the organization.

Since almost the moment he was drafted 20th overall in 2019, Heinola has been on the fringe of the NHL. He made the team out of camp just a few months after being picked, and recorded five points in eight games with the Jets as a rookie. He played another five games the year following, and 12 last season. Interspersed with those short NHL stints have been stretches in the AHL, where he has 45 points in 74 games, but that is sort of where the problem lies. Now in his fourth season in the organization, he has played just 99 regular season games in North America (plus 19 in Finland while leagues here were shut down).

It’s hard to know exactly what Heinola is at this point with such little playing time, though one thing you can be sure of is that he’s not a big, physical presence. As the league moves more and more toward length and reach on defense, some players like Heinola are left on the outside. None of the other seven Jets defensemen are under 6’0″, and the smallest one, Neal Pionk, might be the most physical.

There is definitely NHL upside in the 5’11” Heinola, but it remains to be seen whether the Jets will give him that “shot” he is looking for. At least he’ll be making the NHL portion of his contract for the duration of this latest recall.

Nikita Soshnikov Clears Waivers, Assigned To AHL

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Nov 16, 5:15 PM: The Islanders have announced that Soshnikov has been assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Islanders.

Nov 16, 1:05 PM: Soshnikov has cleared waivers and can be assigned to the minor leagues.

Nov 15: The New York Islanders have placed Nikita Soshnikov on waivers, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Should he clear, the team could assign him to the minor leagues, completely burying his $750K cap hit.

Soshnikov, 29, came back to North America after spending the last three seasons in the KHL, and it seemed as though he might find some new life on this side of the ocean. After all, the undrafted forward had been great in his time back home, scoring 98 points in 137 regular season games. Things haven’t gone so well though, with the Islanders only icing him three times this season.

If he does clear, one has to wonder whether Soshnikov will request a contract termination to go back to the KHL instead of reporting to the minor leagues. It’s been years since he played in the AHL on a regular basis, and there would certainly be interest in him by some of the better programs in Russia. We’ll have to wait and see what the Islanders have planned for him and the roster spot he currently occupies, but it might be close to the end of Soshnikov in the NHL.

In those three appearances this season he has not registered a point, meaning his career total is now 16 in 90 games played.

Canucks Notes: Schenn, Dermott, Brunette

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The Vancouver Canucks won last night against the Buffalo Sabres, hanging on for a 5-4 win despite being outshot 15-5 in the third period. While Bo Horvat led the way again with three points, it was Luke Schenn who received the team’s victory belt in the dressing room. Today, when speaking about the veteran defenseman, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV explained that he expects the Canucks to get plenty of calls about Schenn as the trade deadline approaches.

The Canucks could talk with Schenn’s agent along with a trade partner to see if he’s a rental or a re-signing. Don’t believe they’ve talked to his agent yet about a new deal. Last year’s deadline, the Canucks got a ton of calls on Schenn. They’re going to get a ton of calls on Schenn again, this is a player that is coveted. I’m already hearing about Schenn and some teams. 

The 33-year-old defenseman leads the league in hits by a wide margin, racking up 76 through 17 games while logging over 17 minutes of ice time for the Canucks each night. No Vancouver player has seen the ice more while short-handed, and as a right-shot defenseman with Stanley Cup experience, it’s easy to see why he might be valued by contenders. The fact that he makes just $850K against the cap only helps.

  • While Schenn’s leadership in the room might not be what the Canucks want to give up, they do have a bit of a roster crunch coming. As Dhaliwal goes on to say, Travis Dermott will be returning at some point – potentially in the near future – giving the team nine NHL defensemen. Already the Canucks are scratching names like Riley Stillman and Jack Rathbone, meaning a trade might end up making sense much sooner than the deadline.
  • Even though they did win, there’s still plenty of speculation on the future of head coach Bruce Boudreau. This morning, Darren Dreger of TSN reported that the Canucks spoke with Andrew Brunette before he joined the New Jersey Devils as an assistant this summer. Interestingly, he also pointed out that Brunette actually has a clause in his current deal that would allow him to “entertain outside interest for head coaching vacancies.” Brunette went 51-18-6 with the Florida Panthers as a first-time head coach after Joel Quenneville resigned.

Marc-Andre Fleury Out With Upper-Body Injury

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4:30 pm: The Wild have recalled McIntyre, while moving Fleury to injured reserve. Hunter Jones has been recalled to the AHL’s Iowa Wild in a corresponding move.

12:10 pm: The Minnesota Wild will be recalling a goaltender from the minor leagues, as Marc-Andre Fleury has sustained an upper-body injury. Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that the veteran netminder is undergoing an evaluation today and the team does not yet have a timeline for his return.

Fleury, who will turn 38 in less than two weeks, has started 12 of Minnesota’s 16 games this season and has a .906 save percentage. Filip Gustavsson, the team’s backup, actually has some better numbers but has lost four of the five games he has appeared in.

The likely candidate to take over the starting role is Gustavsson, but there is at least some intrigue over who will come up to join him. The team has Zane McIntyre as a veteran minor league option, but he hasn’t appeared in the NHL since the 2016-17 season.

There is also Jesper Wallstedt, the 20th overall pick in 2021 and a top goaltending prospect. Wallstedt only turned 20 years old a few days ago and has four games of experience in North America, but did start on a regular basis in the SHL the last two seasons. In 22 appearances for Lulea HF last year, he posted a .917 save percentage with a goals-against average of just 1.98. The young netminder also won Best Goaltender at the World Juniors, and took Lulea to the SHL Finals.

While it may not be his time yet, Wallstedt is the team’s future in net and there will be cries for his recall if the team loses Fleury for a substantial amount of time, or Gustavsson struggles in his place.

Patrik Laine Moved To Injured Reserve; Daniil Tarasov Recalled

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The Columbus Blue Jackets continue to be ravaged by injury. This time, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports that Elvis Merzlikins, Jake Bean, and Emil Bemstrom were all having medical tests completed this afternoon to determine the extent of their various injuries. With Merzlikins out, the team has recalled Daniil Tarasov from the minor leagues under emergency conditions. Patrik Laine has been moved to injured reserve, as he is expected to miss quite a while with a sprained ankle.

Merzlikins left last night’s game with an undisclosed injury and wasn’t present at practice today, leaving Joonas Korpisalo as the only professional netminder on the ice (the other goal was tended by Reid Robertson, who is in their hockey ops department, according to team reporter Jeff Svoboda).

These three new injuries are in addition to the absences of Laine, Zach Werenski, Jakub Voracek, Justin Danforth, Nick Blankenburg, and Adam Boqvist, who are all on injured reserve as well. Things are unraveling in Columbus, and yet they still squeaked out an overtime win last night against the Philadelphia Flyers to climb to 5-9-1 on the year.

Tarasov, 23, has already appeared in five games for the team this season, posting a .893 save percentage. The young netminder has shown promise but is limited by inconsistency (as many young netminders are). Still, with Korpisalo an inconsistent enigma himself, they may end up sharing the workload should Merzlikins end up on the shelf for a while.

Latest On Sale Of Ottawa Senators

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While most of the attention regarding the potential sale of the Ottawa Senators has gone to Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds, there are plenty of interested parties lining up for their shot at an NHL franchise. Today, Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports that Michael Andlauer, owner of the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs and Rocco Tullio, owner of the Oshawa Generals, have formed a partnership for an attempt to by the Senators.

In fact, this isn’t the first time Tullio has tried to buy the team. Garrioch reports that he offered former Senators owner Eugene Melnyk $650MM last year. That is close to the figure the Senators were recently valued at by Sportico, though the upcoming sale price is expected to rise much higher.

Andlauer, meanwhile, has very deep pockets and already owns a portion of the Montreal Canadiens – something he would have to sell if he took over the Senators. The two combined could likely put up a massive offer, and have a history of success in hockey already with the OHL clubs.

That’s not all, though. Garrioch reports several other interested parties, as the sale of the Senators has drummed up plenty of excitement. The team started the process earlier this month by hiring Galatioto Sports Partners, after the Melnyk daughters, Anna and Olivia, decided to sell following their father’s death in March.

The sale is likely to be tied closely with the development project at LeBreton Flats, which the Senators are the preferred bidder for. A new sports complex would offer the team the chance to move closer to downtown and out of their current location, 40 minutes outside of the city center.

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